In His Image: A Halloween Tale
by gamester76
Summary: She was only eight years old when she first saw him; however, she was not one of the lucky ones! The life of a young girl is turned upside down when the Shape invades her home... and her mind! What follows is an evening of terror unlike anything the world of "Halloween" has ever seen before! Part 3 of 5 now posted!
1. The Most Precious Thing

_Happy Halloween, loyal readers! Last year, I started on a Halloween short story called "In His Image." Unfortunately, circumstances forced me to delay the final chapters, but today, the story continues! Chapters 1 and 2 are updated and revised, and Chapters 3-5 will be posted today and tomorrow. And stay tuned for more Halloween scares with a sneak preview of "Halloween: Retribution," an all-new sequel to "Halloween: Vengeance." Until next time, lock your doors, bot your windows, and turn off the lights..._

* * *

IN HIS IMAGE: A HALLOWEEN TALE

BY JAKE REED

...

CHAPTER 1

THE MOST PRECIOUS THING

Matthew Lynn had the cutest daughter in the world. And he would believe so until his dying day.

It was just after six in the morning, and Matthew had been up for an hour or so, preparing for a short day at work. He would be home by four, and then he would get ready to take little Annabelle trick-or-treating. Though, he wondered if that was such a great idea; last night on his way home, the cops had been out in force. During the day, he heard whispers of a name from the past: Michael Myers had come home.

Matthew dismissed it all as a load of horseshit. Michael Myers was an urban legend. Yeah, that was the little kid that had murdered his sister back in the early sixties, but he was long dead. Had to be.

Matthew grew up hearing the legend of Michael Myers. The whole thing happened before Matthew was born (he, himself, was born in 1979), but the story was that young Michael Myers had been locked up after the murder, but escaped fifteen years later and came after a bunch of promiscuous teens.

And then, he died. Shot six times by the doctor who treated him at the mental hospital where he was kept, and then set on fire and presumably was at the toasty center of an explosion at the local hospital.

But the legend goes that Myers kept coming back over and over again, returned to life by his own perpetuating infernal rage, continuing his unmerciful slaughter of innocents.

Matthew didn't believe a word of it. Sure, a series of murders happened in Haddonfield back in 1978; that was why his family moved to, and Matthew was born in, Russellville, which was a town about two hundred miles from Haddonfield.

Growing up in Russellville, the story of Michael Myers was merely a legend passed on from kid to kid, a tale featuring a character who was more of the boogeyman than a real figure from history.

But with the cops being as active as they were last night, after hearing a report of a patient escaping a nearby asylum, Matthew wondered if taking his daughter trick or treating tonight was a good idea.

He pondered this as he watched little Annabelle sleeping soundly in her bed. She was so pretty, even as she slept. Eight years old, shoulder-length hair the color of gold, and always a smile on her face, Matthew suddenly knew there was no way he could ever disappoint the little angel of his life.

Little Annabelle rolled over on her bed, accidentally tossing off the DC Superhero bedspread she was using to cover up with, which juxtaposed nicely with the Marvel Superhero pajamas she wore.

Annabelle was not a normal eight year old girl. Her room was pink, yes, but was plastered with Def Leppard posters instead of One Direction; video games and horror movies took the place of Barbie dolls and horses on her shelves; encased on glass on the shelf above her bed was a single drumstick, a souvenir from a KISS concert she and her parents had attended earlier in the year.

Matthew approached his daughter, who was still asleep despite now shivering from the cold. He pulled his daughter's blankets back up over her and drew a hand through her hair. She stirred softly and opened her eyes.

"Good morning, princess," Matthew said softly.

"Hi, daddy," Annabelle said sleepily.

"Did you sleep well?" Annabelle shook her head. "Why not? Bad dream?" Annabelle nodded.

"There was a ghost, and he wanted to kill me," she said softly. "And you and mommy weren't there to protect me."

This tugged at Matthew's heartstrings; he couldn't imagine a situation where he, or Melody, wasn't there to protect Annabelle.

"Now that must have been a pretty scary dream," Matthew said. "But remember that mommy and I will always be around to protect you, no matter what. Be it from ghosts, monsters, or icky boys!"

Annabelle let out a childish giggle at daddy's joke. Matthew smiled and planted a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "Come on, time to get up, baby girl." Annabelle laughed and shook her head.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Matthew asked. Annabelle thought about it for a few seconds before responding.

"Cheeseburgers," she said.

"No, mommy would kick daddy's butt if I gave you a cheeseburger for breakfast."

"Cheeseburger," Annabelle repeated adamantly.

"Fine, cheeseburger," Matthew relented. "But don't tell mommy, okay?"

Annabelle smiled and hopped up to give her dad an enormous hug. Matthew returned the embrace, holding his daughter tightly, not wanting to let go.

...

The burgers were sizzling well on the griddle when Matthew's phone rang. Annabelle munched on a strip of bacon in her chair as Matthew answered it.

"Ronnie, what's up?"

"Matt, can you do me a favor?"

Matt rolled his eyes. Ronnie Dauer was one of Matt's best friends; they had grown up together here in Russellville. In fact, Ronnie had been the Best Man at Matt's wedding to Melody. But whenever Ronnie called in a favor to Matt, it usually resulted in Matt cleaning up a mess Ronnie had gotten himself into.

"What is it, Ronnie?" Matt said with a sigh.

"Okay, so I got duped into working late tonight, and I didn't know Beverly was working tonight otherwise I would have said no, but neither of us can take Mia trick-or-treating tonight. Would you mind taking her with Annabelle tonight?"

Matthew let out a hearty chuckle. Their boss, a weasely man named Quinten Reynolds, had a bad habit of dangling enticing overtime hours over his employees. Seeing as how they worked for the City of Russellville, their job as city maintenance workers was already well-paid, but adding time-and-a-half to any paycheck was always a welcome bonus. The drawback, of course, meant time away from the family you were providing for.

Fortunately, small towns like Russellville meant that neighbors really looked out for each other, and there was always someone willing to help out.

"Yes, I will take Mia with us tonight," Matthew said with a giggle. "How did you get sucked into a Graveyard Shift on a Sunday?"

"Because I'm a sucker for $20/hour, that's why. I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

"Yeah, you better. You owe me, just FYI," Matt laughed. "I'll pick you up at the normal time. I guess I'm just going to get Mia on the way home?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Ronnie said. "I'll pick her up and take her home around midnight."

"Sounds good," Matt agreed. "Want a cheeseburger?"

"What?" Ronnie's voice was full of confusion. "It's 7 A.M. Why are you making cheeseburgers?"

"Annabelle wanted cheeseburgers for breakfast," Matt responded. He flipped a burger onto a bun and placed a slice of cheese on it. Annabelle waited patiently for it to come to her, eyeing it with eager anticipation. "So, we're having cheeseburgers for breakfast."

"You guys are a riot, man," Ronnie laughed from the other end of the line. "That little girl is probably the best mistake you ever made!"

"Children in the dark cause accidents; accidents in the dark cause children," Matt joked. "And you weren't much older than I was when you had Mia!"

"Of course not; we both got our girls pregnant on the same night!"

"That was a good night," Matt recalled. "Russellville High School Junior/Senior Prom, 1996."

"I remember," Ronnie said. "Beverly and I snuck off to the football field and did it on the 45-Yard Line. And you… Where did you and Melody pop off to?"

"I took her out to the old Charlie Bowles house and she got scared and we wound up doing it on the couch in the living room."

"And then nine months later, out pop two little girls," Ronnie noted.

"Annabelle was first," Matt gloated.

"Of course she was; you were always first before me ever since we were kids!"

"And it will always remain that way," Matt gloated. "But, I will pick up little Mia tonight and she will be incredibly exhausted and likely asleep when you go to take her home."

"Big thanks, man," Ronnie repeated. "I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

"Promises, promises," Matt teased. "So, burger or no?"

"Yeah, sure, why not," Ronnie agreed.

"I'll have it," Matt said. "Bye, Ronnie!" Before Ronnie had a chance to reply, Matt hung up the phone. Annabelle was taking a monster bite out of her burger, looking up at her daddy with expectancy.

"Looks like we're gonna have company when we go out tonight. Your friend Mia s coming trick-or-treating with us."

"Awesome!" Annabelle screamed with her mouth full. Matt was about to scold Annabelle for doing so, but at that moment the lock tumblers on the front door clicked and the sound of a key turning filled the kitchen.

Matt hustled Annabelle up the stairs and started cleaning up his mess in the kitchen. He quickly tossed his pans in the sink and ran water over them just as a petite young brunette woman came into the living room, carrying a large purse on her shoulder and dressed in hospital scrubs.

Matt jogged into the living room and grabbed Melody by the waist, spun her around, and planted a kiss firmly on her lips. Melody moaned in delight as Matt made out with her. A smile came to her lips and she let out a delighted giggle. On the stairs, Annabelle watched with a smile.

"Down, boy," Melody laughed as Matt threw his arms around her waist. "There will be plenty of time for that later."

"I just missed you, is all," Matt confessed. He finally let go of Melody's waist and stood back.

"I know, you always do," Melody said as she threw her bag down on the couch. "Is Annabelle awake yet?"

"Yeah, she is," Matt looked up at the stairs as Melody walked towards the kitchen. "Wanna go say hello?" Matt suggested.

"Oh, I will. But first, I need a beer."

"Rough night?" Matt asked.

"Oh, the worst," Melody responded with the sound of the seal on the fridge opening, followed by a clinking of glass bottles. "Over four dozen patients came through ER last night. I think I deserve a beer or two before we go out tonight."

"Speaking of tonight," Matt followed Melody into the kitchen. "We're taking Mia with us."

"Did Ronnie get suckered into working a longer shift?" Melody placed her thumb underneath the bottle cap and gave a quick snap, sending the cap flying.

"It still wows me that you can do that," confessed Matt. "Every time I do that, I slice my thumb open."

"Years of practice," Melody teased. "My dad taught me to do that ten years ago."

"You're twenty-four," Matt noted.

"So?" Melody took a sip from the bottle and turned back to the sink. "Make breakfast?"

"I did," Matt nodded. "Sausage." Melody gave him a quick daggers glare and wiped her finger on the grease-covered skillet. She lifted her greasy finger to her mouth and licked it; she then shot Matt another evil glare.

"Did you make cheeseburgers for breakfast?"

"Well…" Matt turned beet red; he was busted. "It's sausage."

"Matt…" Melody scowled at Matt.

"She wanted cheeseburgers for breakfast," Matt defended.

Melody laughed and shook her head. "Looks like the only thing you're getting tonight is Annabelle's candy."

Matt started to protest, but Melody merely patted his cheek and strode out of the kitchen, popping her hips as she went. Matt bit the back of his hand to keep from screaming in frustration.

...

"Sit still, honey," Melody ordered her daughter. She was painting the lines for Annabelle's costume onto her face, but Annabelle was too excited to sit completely still so Melody did her best to keep the lines straight. She glanced down at her phone to check her reference for the KISS Spaceman makeup design and dipped the brush back into the black paint. "I'm almost done with the outline."

The door behind them clicked open and Matt walked in followed by a young girl Annabelle's age, but with long brown hair instead of blonde.

"Mia!" Annabelle screamed. She jerked her head and caused Melody to skew the line. She let out a groan of frustration, but let it pass as Annabelle jumped out of the chair to hug her friend.

"What, no hug for daddy?" Matt jokingly complained.

"She's been excited for Mia all day," Melody responded. "So much so that the butt monkey wouldn't sit still while I did her make up!"

Matt looked down and saw the make-up on Annabelle's eye. One eye was done perfectly, but the other was incomplete and had a long streak of black going down her cheek.

"What are we going to do with you, girl?" Matt said as he scooped his daughter up. "Are you gonna sit still while Mommy finishes your make-up?" Annabelle nodded and Matt took her back over to Melody.

"We are almost done," Melody said as she filled in the last of the stars. "Matt, go get Annabelle's costume out of the bedroom, then go help her put it on while I get Mia's done." Matt took Annabelle upstairs and Mia sat down in front of Melody to begin her own make up.

Thirty minutes later, Melody stood in front of the bathroom mirror and applied the make up for her Paul Stanley/StarChild outfit. Matt was trying to fit into his Gene Simmons/Demon costume, but was having trouble with the boots. He hopped into the bathroom and came up behind Melody, who paid him no attention as he put his arms around her stomach.

"Still mad at me?" he asked with a puppy-dog voice. Melody laughed so hard she almost ruined her own design.

"You are such a man-child," she teased him.

"More man than child," Matt joked as he grabbed Melody's ass; she squealed and stiffened her body and playfully swatted Matt's hands away.

"Matt, stop it!" she laughed as Matt began nibbling on her neck. She suddenly twitched trying to make him stop and laughed harder. "No, stop, you're going to ruin my make up!"

Downstairs, Mia and Annabelle were in full outfit as the Cat and Spaceman from KISS, sitting on the couch waiting for Annabelle's parents. They sat and waited patiently for them to come down, but their patience was growing thin as they heard them upstairs laughing maniacally.

"You're parents are weird," Mia said.

The sun was nearly gone by the time they finally got outside, but the neighborhood was absolutely buzzing with trick-r-treaters going door to door. The quartet walked up and down the streets, Mia and Annabelle filling their bags nearly to the brim. Whenever they came up to a door, they would take off the moment candy was dropped into their bag and headed off to the next house.

Matt and Melody mostly hung back and watched the girls do their thing. Matt was a bit more paranoid, considering the rumors he had been hearing about Myers. He tried to banish the thoughts from his mind, reasoning that there was no logic in Myers coming to Russellville, as Haddonfield was his usual stomping ground. But he still couldn't help looking over his shoulder from time to time.

"Babe, what are you looking at?" Melody asked after she caught him looking back a few times.

"Nothing," Matt responded. "Just keeping an eye out for pranksters and whatnot."

"Right," Melody responded. "You've been looking around paranoid since we left the house."

Before they could continue further, Mia and Annabelle came down from the porch and started running for the next house.

"Can't catch me, Mia!" Annabelle shouted as she ran next door, Mia and her parents close behind.

"We'll talk about it back at the house," Matt promised. "Pinky swear." He held out his right hand, pinky stretched out. Melody looked at it, sighed, and then smiled as she hooked her pinky around his.

"Deal," she said.

"Mommy, daddy, come on!" Annabelle shouted from down the block. She and Mia ran behind a bush up to the next house and her parents walked after them. Matt didn't look over his shoulder this time, but if he did, he would have seen a lone figure in a white mask walking a block behind them…

...

It was extremely late by the time they finished trick-r-treating, and Mia had fallen asleep on the way back to Annabelle's house. Matt pulled up into the driveway and saw another car was already parked in front of the lawn. Matt shut the ignition off and stepped out to find Ronnie sitting on the porch.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Matt asked as he gave Ronnie a big hug.

"I didn't know what time you'd be back, so I sat and waited on your porch," Ronnie explained. "How did my little princess do tonight?"

A door shut and Melody carried the half-asleep Mia over to Ronnie's arms. "She got a lot of candy," Melody answered by handing Ronnie an enormous bag full of Tootsie Rolls and candy bars.

"Thanks again, guys," Ronnie said. "Sorry I couldn't have taken her myself, but you know how our boss is."

"It was our pleasure, Ron," Matt said. "I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"See you, man," Ronnie said as he walked down to his car with Mia. Matt turned back to the house to see Annabelle standing next to the door, waiting to be let inside. She had nearly sweated off all her make-up and was leaning against the wall of the house.

"Now when we get inside, its bath and then straight to bed, understand missy?" Matt said sternly as he unlocked the door. "You can have three pieces of candy, but that's it for tonight because you have school tomorrow."

"Yes, daddy," Annabelle said, clearly too exhausted to give much argument. Matt opened the door and Annabelle trundled inside behind her mother. Matt brought up the rear and closed the door behind him. None of them saw the white masked figure standing across the street, staring at their house…

Matt put a bag of tea in each cup and poured boiling water over them. Melody was upstairs giving Annabelle her bath and was brewing a cup Earl Grey tea for each of them. Matt had first bought the stuff on a whim and discovered that he rather liked it. Melody and Annabelle had both acquired a taste for it as well and Matt often made some for them before bed.

Upstairs, he heard water draining through pipes, indicating that Annabelle had finished with her bath. He didn't hear the back door behind him creak open, revealing a tall figure standing in the door frame…

In the bathroom upstairs, Annabelle dried herself off with the towel as Melody placed her clothes on the toilet seat. They both jumped when they heard a crash coming from downstairs, which sounded like breaking glass.

"Matt?" Melody called out. There was no answer. She turned back to Annabelle. "Sweetie, hurry up and get your clothes on. Mommy will be right back." Melody walked out the bathroom door and into the hallway. When she reached the top of the stairs, she called down to Matt again.

"Matt, what was that noise? Matt?" Melody slowly walked down the stairs and turned the corner at the doorframe into the kitchen.

"Matt, what was that-NOOOOO!" Melody screamed when she saw Matt being strangled on the floor by a large man in mechanic's coveralls and a white Halloween mask. Matt punched the man in the side of the head, but he hardly reacted.

"Get off him!" Melody screamed as she charged the strange man; he backhanded her and sent her stumbling to the ground, knocking her head hard on the floor.

"Melody…" Matt choked as he reached out for her. The man reached behind him and pulled out a large kitchen knife, raising it high over his head.

Melody coughed and opened her eyes just in time to see the man bring the knife down and, with a sickening "SCHUNK," embedded it into the side of Matt's head.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Melody screamed. The man turned to her and pulled the knife out of Matt's head; it was embedded deeply, and Matt's head lifted a ways before they separated and cracked back down on the linoleum, where blood pooled around his body.

Melody stood up and launched herself out the kitchen door and up the stairs before the man could grab her and kill her as well. She didn't bother looking back down at the man and thrust herself into her bedroom where Annabelle had just finished getting dressed.

"What's wrong, mommy?" she asked. "Where's daddy?"

"Annabelle, listen to me," Melody said in a frantic whisper as she threw the slide-bolt on the door. "Get underneath the bed right now."

"But mommy," Annabelle tried to protest, but Melody kneeled down in front of her and put a finger to her lips.

"Don't make a sound. Don't move. And most important, whatever you see, whatever happens nest, you mustn't scream."

"Mommy, I'm scared," Annabelle said.

"Me too, baby," Melody said, nearly crying. She threw her arms around her daughter to hug her, and wanted to stay like that forever. But she could hear the man's footsteps coming up the stairs, and knew there was no time for that.

"Quick, under the bed, now," Melody ordered. Annabelle nodded and ducked underneath the bed. Melody pulled down the bed skirt, which wasn't long enough to reach the floor and left a gap for Annabelle to see through, before rummaging through a nearby nightstand for Matt's gun.

She finally found it and triumphantly held it high, but her elation was short lived; there was a lock on the trigger!

"Fuck!" Melody shouted. There was a loud bang at the door as the man started to beat it down. Melody left the gun on the bed and continued searching the drawer for a pocket knife or… something!

There was another bang and a hand burst through the door, sending splinters flying! The man reached his arm through the door and tried to grab for the lock. Melody looked up briefly, saw the arm, and continued her search more frantically. The man beat down more parts of the door and stuck part of his torso through!

Melody didn't dare look back, but let out a scream of success as she pulled out Matt's butterfly knife! She opened it up and turned to the door-

But the man wasn't there. He was gone.

Melody held the knife in front of her and slowly approached the shattered door. The knife trembled in her hands, and she feared she would drop it if she couldn't stop shaking. Her legs felt like jelly as she approached the door as her adrenaline rush started to fade and fear began to overtake her.

The door was empty when she got to it, wooden splinters scattered over the bedroom floor and the stairs.

"Oh God," Melody whispered to herself. She backed up slowly towards the bed, knife in front of her. He was here somewhere, he had to-

A hand reached around, grabbed Melody by the neck and threw her to the ground, and she realized this was it. It was over…

Annabelle had closed her eyes the moment she got underneath the bed. She was so terrified that she hardly breathed, remaining perfectly silent. She didn't open her eyes until after the banging on the door had stopped. And when she did open her eyes, all she saw was her mom's bare feet walking slowly towards the door, then backing up to the bed.

But Annabelle then saw a pair of black boots come out of the bathroom and walk up behind her mom. Suddenly, her mom let out a scream and was thrown to the floor, her head landing near the man's boots!

Melody looked under the bed and saw Annabelle staring at her in terror, a scream welling up in her throat. Melody, tears in her eyes, mouthed to her daughter, "Don't scream."

A knife came down into Annabelle's line of sight and pressed against Melody's throat! The man gave a quick pull and the steel sliced halfway into Melody's neck, blood squirting out of her gash and into the carpet! The color drained from Melody's face, which had locked eyes onto Annabelle, who could do nothing but stare back and try not to cry out.

Tears formed around Annabelle's eyes as she stared at her mother's lifeless body on the ground. The carpet soaked up most of the blood, but a small stream was creeping underneath the bed and Annabelle tried to move away from it. The blood touched her hand and she emitted a low squeal, but quickly threw her hand over her mouth to stifle any further ones! She looked out for the boots, but they were gone…

A hand grabbed Annabelle's ankle and started to pull her out from underneath the bed!

"AHHHHHHH!" Annabelle screamed as she clawed at the carpet, trying to escape! "Daddy! Mommy!"

Annabelle slid out and turned over to see a massive Shape standing over her! The bloody knife was raised high over his head, poised straight for Annabelle's heart! Annabelle screamed as loud as her tiny lungs would let her!

"Let me go! Let me go!" She thrashed and tried to squirm away from the Shape, but he put his hand on her throat and forced her down! She smacked her head on the floor and instantly stopped moving, and instead only cried.

Tears streaked down her face as the Shape brought he knife near her head, the tip of the blade pressed into her cheek. The Shape traced the blade down and left a straight-line cut on her cheek. He then carved a triangle onto the line, which started to seep blood down her face.

"Please, don't hurt me," she cried softly. "I just want my daddy…"

The Shape raised the knife high, and brought it down. The girl screamed, and soon fell silent…

...

The house was lit up with flashing red and blue lights as police surrounded the building. Paramedics wheeled out a gurney with a bloody white sheet covering the body on it out to a medical ambulance while police inside examined the crime scene.

A young, curly blond-haired officer named Daniel "Wade" Woodward knelt over the bloody scene in the kitchen. There were was some kind of tea mixed in with the blood, as well as a couple of broken glasses shattered everywhere. The body had been moved out, and Woodward hadn't been upstairs yet.

There was a large bag of candy sitting on the table, and Woodward couldn't help himself but to grab a piece from the bag: a Tootsie Roll. He unwrapped it and started to put it into his mouth, but paused and pulled the candy apart first, remembering an incident when he was a child in '78 where a razor blade had been shoved inside a Tootsie Roll like this one, and it had sliced his tongue open.

"Woodward!" A voice with a deep Irish brogue called from behind and startled Woodward. Sheriff Bryan Mills stood in the doorway, looked down at the floor and sighed heavily. "God damn, who could do such a thing?"

"Nobody knows," Woodward answered. "Back door was kicked open, so it could be a simple home invasion gone wrong."

"Come with me upstairs; there's apparently more in the bedroom." Woodward followed Mills out, leaving his Tootsie Roll on the counter in a puddle of tea next to a third glass that was merely tipped over and unbroken.

Police were taking pictures of a young woman with her throat slit. She had been turned over onto her back, and her eyes were being closed by the officer taking the pictures. Woodward looked on the night stand and saw a picture of the woman with a man and a young girl; it was spattered with blood.

Woodward picked it up and examined the photo.

"Mills," Woodward said. Mills turned to Woodward and saw the photo in his hands.

"Poor girl," Mills said. "She was the first one they took out of here. I talked with a neighbor; said this family was perfect. The mother and father, that little girl was the light of their life. Center of their universe."

"And now it's all gone," Woodward mourned.

"Mills, you up there?" a voice downstairs called out. Mills walked to the bedroom doorway and called down.

"What do you got?"

"The girl's conscious now, but she's not looking too great! They're taking her to the hospital now!"

"Good. Keep me updated!" Mills called back. He turned back to Woodward, who was still staring at the picture.

"That little girl's life was just shattered into a million tiny pieces tonight," Mills told Woodward. "I don't want you to rest – not sleep, not eat, not even fucking anyone – until the bastard responsible for this mess is caught and you've put a bullet through his head!"


	2. As Time Goes By

CHAPTER 2

AS TIME GOES BY

Three years later…

Annabelle Lynn's alarm clock woke her up at 7:05. It had been going off for five minutes, but she couldn't be bothered to turn it off. Only when it finally became unbearably annoying did she go through the trouble of sitting up and turning it off.

The room she now slept in was nowhere close to resembling the one she used to have. Mainly because it wasn't even the same house, but another one across town where her Aunt Alisa lived, which also happened to be just down the street from Mia's house.

After that night, Annabelle had spent a week in the hospital before Alisa came and took her in. She had cleaned out her room and taken a few trinkets from her parents' house, like a blood-splattered picture of all three of them from the nightstand. There was also a pretty necklace her mother wore on special occasions that she found inside the dresser. It was now dangling from a bedside lamp that hung from the wall next to her headboard.

When they returned to the house to pick up Annabelle's things, the cleaners hadn't come yet and the floors were still stained with their blood. Annabelle burst into tears upon seeing the blood soaked carpet in her parent's bedroom, and flashbacks to that night caused her to nearly have a panic attack.

That was the day the old Annabelle died.

In the three years that passed since, Annabelle had changed dramatically. She had cut her hair short, just below her ears, and her blond hair was now dyed a dark color, nearly black. The Def Leppard and KISS posters had been scribbled over with black markers, drawing weird symbols and quotes such as, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

A laptop computer sat on the desk, which was carved into with Annabelle's and her parent's names. Each name had a birthdate next to it, and her parents both had death-dates, as well. Next to Annabelle's name was merely a question mark in parenthesis.

The curtains were black and let through no light, keeping the room dark. The whole room reflected Annabelle's personality shift towards an embracement of the macabre.

If Matthew Lynn were still alive today, he wouldn't recognize his now eleven-year-old daughter.

But one thing stood out among the room: a single picture, an artist's rendering, of Michael Myers, taped to a dartboard near the door, holes punctured into the walls and door from where darts had missed and went wide. But most of the holes were centered on Myer's head, which was dead center of the board. Annabelle's favorite thing to do was take the darts and throw bull's-eye after bull's-eye on Michael's head.

But she decided to skip her darts game today. Today was a rather important day, for several reasons. Number one, first and foremost, was her visit with Dr. Nick White, her psychiatrist. She started going to him shortly after her parents' murders. White had explained to Alisa that sometimes a young child witnessing the death of a loved one such as a parent can cause them to become unstable. They could be more prone to mental breaks, and a fixation on Death could be one of the side effects, in cases such as Annabelle's.

The second, and perhaps the biggest reason: today was October 31st, 2007. It was the third anniversary of her parents' deaths.

It was Halloween again.

"Annabelle, time to get up!" Alisa shouted from the kitchen. Annabelle poked her head through her bedroom door and called down the hall, "I'm already up!"

"Okay," Alisa called back. "Breakfast is almost ready!"

Annabelle took a shower and dressed herself for the day before heading into the kitchen for breakfast. Alisa was standing over the stove, cooking in a pan. The smell of sausage filled Annabelle's nostrils and, as she looked over at the plate filled with them, she remembered that her father, Alisa's brother, had made sausages the day…

Alisa adjusted her pink bathrobe so that her long brown hair wasn't tucked into the back collar and looked over at Annabelle, who was simply standing in front of the counter and staring at the sausages. Alisa gave Annabelle a good once-over to take in her clothes, which consisted of a black off-the-shoulder shirt with a white skull across the chest. The bottom of the shirt came down to her waist, but the hemline of the front was ripped away from the rest of the shirt so it hung down over the top of the dark-colored skirt, and showed off just a little bit of her stomach.

Alisa rolled her eyes in disapproval as she went back to cooking. "I really wish you wouldn't wear stuff like that," she said.

"Not all wishes come true," Annabelle snapped back.

Alisa stopped what he was doing and turned to Annabelle, who was now sitting at the kitchen table. "The only reason I'm gonna let that remark slide is because I know what today is, and I know how you get about it."

Annabelle remained silent as she pulled out her iPhone and started texting someone.

"Annabelle, put the phone down for a minute and let's just talk."

"About what?" Annabelle asked sharply. "There's nothing to talk about. I just want to get this day over with as quickly as possible without any drama."

Alisa was about to speak up, but bit her lip and turned back to the food without another word.

...

"So what did the psychiatrist say?"

Mia and Annabelle were walking through the neighborhood after school back to Mia's house. Annabelle had been remarkably quiet since coming back to school during lunch. Mia had asked her then what was said, but Annabelle was mum on the subject.

The changes Annabelle had made in three years were opposite on Mia. Her light brown hair was grown down to her shoulders and her clothing was much more conservative than Annabelle's was. On her hand was a small bag of candy that the teacher had handed out to her students during the day. Mia's bag was fuller because Annabelle had given her the candy she had received.

"He kept feeding me this crap about how I need to come to terms with my past, whatever that means," Annabelle said. "Something about confronting my demons and making peace with them."

"So…?"

"So he's full of shit," Annabelle barked. "It's the same shit he's always telling me, every time I go in there. I'm sick and tired of hearing it!"

"No, say how you really feel!" Mia mocked. Annabelle chuckled, but didn't say anything. She instead listened while Mia went on about the morning classes at Russellville Junior High, about the boy who asked her out earlier, and other trivial matters.

A short while later, the pair came to a street corner. It would have been a wholly unremarkable corner, the sign addressing it as the corner of Hyde Street and Crescent Boulevard. The corner they stood on had a tree leaning precariously over the intersection, but obviously pretty solid considering it had been that way for years.

Here, they would normally turn left onto Hyde and walk down to Harris Street, but Annabelle stopped as Mia started to turn down the street. Annabelle stared down Crescent, at the fourth house on the right side. It was a beautiful house, with stunning white paint and a well-kept lawn. There was a massive oak tree that cast a large shadow over the yard, and driveway was made of concrete.

"Was" being the keyword.

"Annabelle," Mia said as she came over to her side. "Let's go, or else Jack's gonna eat all the pizza pockets." Jack was Mia's older brother, a high-school freshman who thought he was just the coolest person in the world.

Annabelle didn't listen to Mia; she looked both ways, and then darted across the road. Mia shouted after her, but then took off behind her.

"Anna, what are you doing?" Mia asked as they neared the house from the opposite side of the street.

"I want to go inside," Annabelle explained calmly.

"But you'd be trespassing!" Mia exclaimed as she gestured to a sign that hung from the chain-link fence, declaring "Private Property: No Trespassing."

"It's not trespassing if we're not caught," Annabelle argued. "Besides, this is technically my house anyway."

The chain-link fence had been put up recently around the lawn, which had not been cut in a very long time; neither had the hedges, which were insanely overgrown. Broken limbs dangled from the oak tree. The gutter had come free and creaked as it swung freely from the edge of the porch roof. Many of the windows were broken and shattered, and the once-white paint was now grimy, chipped and peeling.

If Annabelle's parents were still alive, they would have never let the house go to shambles like that.

Annabelle crossed the street and tossed her bag over the fence before climbing over the gate. She turned around to Mia, who still stood on the other side of the street. When Mia didn't move, Annabelle grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

She hustled up the small steps and pulled out her key ring. She picked out a corroded brass key and stuck it into the lock.

Footsteps caused Annabelle to turn around and watch Mia crawl over the fence with her bag. She ran to catch up with Annabelle, and stopped at her side.

"You're not going in there alone, okay." Mia said. Annabelle smiled and turned the key.

She opened the door with a loud creaking, but it swung open freely. The inside wasn't dark and scary like it would have been in a horror movie; it was actually quite bright. The living room was barren, all the furniture moved and sold after the murders. The furniture in the other rooms had probably been sold, as well, or locked up in storage somewhere. In fact, Annabelle was kinda shocked that her father's key still worked in the lock.

Mia wandered into the downstairs hall where the closet and bathroom were located while Annabelle walked into the kitchen. The linoleum tiles were covered in dust and dirt, and the counters were filthy as well. Roaches scattered around as Annabelle dragged a hand across the counter.

A beam of light shown down onto the floor near the counter. The floor…

_-the floor was covered in blood. Her father's body had been moved long ago, but the police were still examining the crime scene. A detective dusted the counter for fingerprints and a flashbulb went off somewhere._

_Annabelle saw this as she was carried downstairs on the stretcher. She was barely holding onto consciousness, but the sight of the blood caused her to become afraid, and her fear helped her to finally let go…_

"Let's go!" Annabelle jerked back to reality as Mia appeared behind her. "This place is starting to creep me out."

"Why? You used to come over here all the time." Annabelle pointed out.

"Yeah, but I haven't been inside this house in three years," Mia argued. "Not since your parents died, and I'm kind of freaking out."

"Wussy," Annabelle taunted. She walked back to the backdoor and looked it over, reaching out to touch the doorknob-

_-the door swung open, and a tall dark Shape stood in the doorway. Matt poured the tea into the three glasses on the counter as the Shape stepped inside, silently coming up behind him. There was a knife on the counter near the glasses, and the Shape reached for it! Matt saw a shadow out the corner of his eye, and whirled around, knocking over all three glasses. Two of them rolled off the counter and shattered on the floor, tea splashing everywhere._

_The Shape grabbed Matt's throat, but before he could do anything else, Matt stepped to the side and slipped on the wet floor. His head landed with a crack on the linoleum, pain coursing through his body._

"Matt, was that you?"

_Melody's voice reached his ears and he hit at the Shape with every ounce of energy he had. The Shape leapt on top of Matt's body, thrusting his hands around Matt's neck and choking the life out of him. The Shape reached up to the counter and grabbed the knife, bringing it down at Matt's head as he heard a woman screaming-_

-Annabelle's sudden scream startled her back to reality. Mia stood in the doorframe between the kitchen and the den, terror pouring over her face.

"What happened?" Annabelle asked.

"You opened the door, looked around outside, and I came into the den. Then I heard you scream, came back in, and saw you on your knees! I thought you were being attacked!"

Annabelle then realized she was kneeling near the counter. She quickly stood up and brushed the grime from her skirt.

"Must have had another blackout," she remarked.

"You haven't had one in six months," Mia noted. "Did you bring your pills?"

"Yeah, but I don't have anything to drink them with. I'll be fine, Mia," Annabelle promised. She stood and walked into the den, stopping in front of the stairs. Mia turned back to her friend to ask her why she stopped, but Annabelle was already up the stairs before she could protest.

"Dammit, Annabelle!" Mia screamed.

"Just one more, then we're out of here, I promise," Annabelle said. She turned the knob on the door at the top of the stairs and opened it.

Annabelle's parent's room was just as empty as the rest of the house, but Annabelle still saw it as it was in her mind's eye. Though it had long since been moved, the depressions into the carpet where the bed had been were still visible. Annabelle walked over to where the bed was and knelt down, raking her fingers across the fibers of the carpet. Her fingers ran over a darker spot on the carpet-

_-the blood seeped into the carpet as Melody's body bled out. The Shape brought the knife down towards Annabelle's head, but the blade jammed into the floor beside her! The Shape stared down at Annabelle, who suddenly stopped screaming-_

Annabelle screamed and, realizing she was flailing about on the ground, quickly stopped. She was breathing heavily and tried to stand up, but her ankle twisted and she fell face down onto the carpet where the bed was-

_-she was underneath the bed. Melody looked into her eyes and mouthed the words, "Don't scream." The blade sliced into Melody's neck and blood poured out onto the carpet…_

…_a hand grabbed Annabelle's foot and dragged her out from underneath the bed-_

Mia grabbed Annabelle's foot and dragged her across the floor!

"Annabelle! Stop it!" Annabelle was screaming again, just as loudly this time. She kicked Mia's hands away and stood fast! She scooted back away towards the bathroom door, trying to get away from-

_-the Shape stood in front of Mia, who was staring past at Annabelle!_

_"Mia, get out of here!" Annabelle screamed as the Shape stepped closer to her. He bent over and grabbed Annabelle's head with both hands, and began squeezing. Annabelle pressed her hands over his, which were cold to the touch and burned horrendously. They were scarred over, and she tried to pry them away from her head, but she couldn't-_

Mia couldn't pry Annabelle's hand away from her head!

"Mia, get out of here, or he's going to kill you!"

"Annabelle, there's nobody here!" Mia screamed back at her friend, trying in vain to pull her friend from the bathroom doorway. Annabelle fought and squirmed and-

_-fought and squirmed as the Shape continued to squeeze at her head! She finally managed to break free and kicked the Shape in the face-_

-kicked Mia in the face-

_-kicked the Shape in the face, who then stumbled backwards. Annabelle stood up and charged the Shape with her hands outstretched-_

"Anna, stop!" Mia screamed as Annabelle charged her, throwing her hands around her neck and sending her to the ground! Annabelle squeezed around Mia's neck, silencing her attempts to call for help.

Mia choked loudly; Annabelle's face was right up on her's, Anna's hot breath choking her airspace. Anna's face was one of anger, teeth gnashed together in an unhuman rage!

_ -Annabelle choked the Shape with her tiny hands, almost unbelieving of what she was doing! He easily had a hundred and fifty pounds on her, and yet she had taken him down with ease! It was almost like he was willingly giving up…_

_"You killed my parents, fucker! Now it's your turn to die…"_

_"Freeze! Hands up, now!"_

The corners of Mia's vision started going dark, closing in near the center where Annabelle's face grimaced angrily down at her. A red dot appeared on Annabelle's forehead.

"Stop, or I will shoot!" There was a crackling sound and Annabelle suddenly went stiff! Her body convulsed as she fell back off of Mia, who lay choking on the floor.

"Call for paramedics, now!" Mia heard a police officer say before everything went dark…

...

Deputy Woodward was experiencing massive déjà vu when he stepped into the top bedroom of the house again. It had been three years since the Lynn Murders, as the papers had called it, and the house had been emptied long ago. It sat abandoned for three years, but here he was investigating another crime in the same house. It was exactly the same as three years ago, and yet completely different.

And yet, still exactly the same.

The little girl sitting in handcuffs up against the wall was the same one who had been carried out on a stretcher in the first attack, but now it seemed like she was the suspect. The other girl was being looked over by paramedics in an ambulance downstairs, but she seemed like she would pull through.

"Where is she? Where's Annabelle?" there was a voice downstairs, which became louder as the footsteps ascended the stairs. A woman burst through the door and made a beeline for the girl.

"Ma'am, are you Ms. Lynn?" Woodward asked her. She nodded as she sobbed hysterically.

"They told me she had attacked someone, and I saw Mia in the ambulance and I just…"

"Ma'am, I understand you're upset, but you need to go back downstairs while we-"

"Deputy Woodward, the doctor downstairs wants to speak with the aunt," another deputy said. Woodward nodded and turned back to the woman.

"Her doctor is Dr. White, correct?" The woman nodded. "He's downstairs and you'll need to talk to him. Come on, I'll take you down."

A few minutes later, the ambulance with Mia had left for the hospital and Alisa was left with Dr. White on the sidewalk. He was an older gentleman, but not much older than Alisa, who was mid-thirties. His hair was short clipped, and he had on khaki pants and black dress shoes.

"And she just attacked Mia, apparently for no reason!" Alisa sobbed. "She was just fine this morning; why would she do this?"

Alisa kept babbling, but Dr. White interrupted her. "Ms. Lynn, I had a chance to look over Annabelle when I first got here, and I believe she had a full psychotic break, but it wasn't the result of her medication. Instead, I seems to have been an emotional response triggered by external stimuli. In this case, coming back to the house where her parents were murdered."

"You said something about that this morning, didn't you?"

"Yes, I said that something like this could happen if Annabelle returned to the house. I had been hoping to do it myself, but in a controlled environment. With this incident, however, I don't know if her medication will be enough now."

"What do you mean?" Alisa asked. "She hadn't taken her pills today, so what if-"

"Alisa – may I call you Alisa?" Alisa nodded and Dr. White continued. "I don't know what kind of effect this episode will have on Annabelle. Whether this was a one-off thing, or will evolve into a recurring thing, I can't say. That is why I would like to have your permission to move Annabelle 'in-residence' at the hospital."

"You want to move her into the asylum!" Alisa screamed. "She's an eleven year old girl! She was tased this afternoon! She does not need to go to the crazy house!"

"Just until I can determine if her mental breakdown was a result of her medication, of something else. Alisa, please, for Annabelle's sake, let me do this."

Alisa was about to respond again when she heard Deputy Woodward coming out of the house with Annabelle. Her head hung low and her hair covered her face. Woodward was marching her out himself because she wasn't moving on her own; it was like she was a zombie.

Woodward brought Annabelle over to Alisa and Dr. White. "Alright, we're finished with her. You can take her home, now."

"Mr. Lynn, Alisa," Dr. White said. "I need an answer from you."

Annabelle looked up at Alisa, who looked back. But Alisa didn't see her niece at all. She merely saw a face filled with anger, confusion… rage. And her eyes were black, and full of hate.

They were the Devil's eyes…


	3. A Dangerous Mind

CHAPTER 3

A DANGEROUS MIND

October 28th

Nine years later…

There was a chill in the air when Alisa stepped out of her car. It wasn't just because it was the middle of fall and the cold weather of winter was already coming; there was something about the sanitarium where Annabelle was living that made the hair on Alisa's spine stick straight up. Maybe it was because it was well-documented that the sanitarium had a quite bloody history...

Alisa shook off her uneasiness, and headed through the gate and into the doors at the front. Inside the main lobby, she made her way to the receptionist's desk. The receptionist on duty was a young girl about Annabelle's age, perhaps a few years older, with strawberry blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. Alisa found it somewhat odd that this girl was wearing a long-sleeved sweater inside, considering how toasty the building was.

"Excuse me," Alisa said. The receptionist perked up and smiled brightly.

"What can I do for you today?" she asked.

"Alisa Lynn here to see Doctor White," Alisa said. The receptionist nodded and started typing in the computer in front of her. Her brow suddenly furrowed and she looked up at Alisa.

"You said Lynn, right?" the girl asked. Alisa nodded and the girl continued. "Is Annabelle your daughter?"

"My niece," Alisa answered. "Her parents were murdered."

"Oh God, I'm sorry to hear that," the receptionist added. "Did Doctor White tell you what happened?"

"He told me he needed to speak to me, but that's all," Alisa admitted.

The receptionist frowned and pulled up the left arm of her sweater, revealing a massive jagged cut extending from elbow to near her wrist.

"Oh God, what happened?" Alisa asked concerned.

"Doctor White will fill you in," the girl said. "He's expecting you in his office."

Alisa stepped away from the desk and down the familiar hallways towards Doctor White's office. It wasn't long before she found the solid oak door with the brass nameplate bearing his name, and she knocked loudly.

"Come in," came White's voice. Alisa opened the door and saw White sitting at his desk, dressed impeccably in a pressed suit that probably cost more than what Alisa made in six months.

"I truly appreciate you coming in today, Ms. Lynn," Dr. White said as Alisa stepped into his office. "I realize this was short notice, but it was urgent that we spoke in person."

"Thank you, Doctor White," Alisa said, as she always did, with a smile, though it seemed forced, as if she was trying to make herself believe everything was alright.

"Please, just Nick," White said as he gently shook Alisa's hand. "I need to discuss with you Annabelle's current state and where we're going as far as future treatment is concerned."

"Does this have anything to do with the receptionist?"

Dr. White started to speak, but hesitated. What he was about to tell Alisa would devastate her, break her. It would crush her spirit. It would shatter any remaining delusions about the severity of Annabelle's condition. But it was necessary for her to understand the gravity of the situation.

"Annabelle had a bad episode yesterday," White said. "She was in the cafeteria and something triggered her. We haven't been able to determine what exactly, but she put another patient in intensive care and injured three others, including our receptionist."

"Jesus Christ, what happened? Why?"

"Well, over the last few weeks, her hallucinations have been worsening. They've become longer, and more frequent; sometimes, she can't tell the difference between what's real and what isn't. I believe that she lives in her own hallucinated world. And that's part of the reason why I called you down here, the reason we need to discuss her further treatment."

"Part of it? What's the other part?" Alisa asked, somewhat impatient.

Dr. White opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out a large stack of papers, tossing them on his desk.

"We found these in Annabelle's room after her episode yesterday. When a patient has an incident like this, our protocol mandates that they be put on lockdown, and their room searched for contraband items such as drugs or self-manufactured items such as knives. Of course none was found in Annabelle's room, but there were several items of curiosity that we took and examined." White paused before continuing. "What we found was... unsettling."

Alisa flipped open the manila folder and pulled out the papers. The first was a very well-done drawing that it seemed Annabelle had done recently, within the last week. However, it was a strange drawing; in it, Annabelle was standing near a house, but not one Alisa recognized. It was a simple, two story house with a rather boxy architecture. The numbers written into the porch roof read "405," and a sign near the street said "Lampkin Lane." There was no Lampkin Lane in Russellville.

Annabelle had drawn herself on the lawn, looking behind over her shoulder as looking out beyond the boundaries of the picture and out into the real world. In a window in the house was a dark figure with a ghost-white face.

"What is this?" Alisa asked.

"Some patients are allowed tools to do art. Annabelle apparently made this. The house is none other than 405 Lampkin Lane, also known as the home of Michael Myers."

Alisa looked up in disbelief. "Michael Myers? _The_ Michael Myers? The one who supposedly killed her parents? Why is she drawing his house? And how the hell does she know what it even looks like? She's never been to Haddonfield in her life!"

"Ms. Lynn, there are several things that you will learn today that none of us fully understand," Dr. White added. "What I'm about to show you next may shock you, but in order for you to understand just how bad Annabelle's condition has become since your last visit, I have to show you this." Dr. White reached into the stack and pulled out a paper notebook. He opened the journal and immediately landed on the page he was looking for because the spine of the book had been cracked from where that page had laid so many times. He handed the open book to Alisa, who read it aloud.

_"October 25__th__, 2016. He came to see me again tonight. Michael. And this time, he spoke to me. I had seen him for years. He killed my parents twelve years ago, and then tried to kill me. But something made him stop. For some reason, he couldn't do it. And then, three years later, he tried again. But he again couldn't kill me. Wouldn't kill me. And tonight, he told me why: it's because he loves me."_

Alisa nearly dropped the book when she read those last lines. "Loves her? What the hell is she talking about?"

"That's the reason I brought you in here, ma'am. Annabelle has begun having this delusion that Michael Myers is her lover."

Alisa placed a hand over her mouth to keep herself from crying out loud. She continued scanning the book despite her eyes flooding with tears. This was beyond impossible! There was no way in hell that Annabelle would…

"How long has this been going on?" Alisa demanded.

"Judging from this journal, longer than we realized. She had more fully written-in journals that go all the way back to when she was twelve, shortly after arriving here and she talks about Myers as her lover going as far back as to when she was fifteen. The strange thing is that, if you look at the other entries, she writes often about how she has nightmares about Michael Myers coming to kill her, and others about how they live as lovers. It's like she's developed a completely separate persona to live out this... this fantasy, I guess you could call it."

Alisa was having an incredibly difficult time comprehending this. Nothing about this made any sense, like her brain was refusing to process the information it had been given.

"So what do we do now?" Alisa finally asked.

"As far as further treatment, I'm meeting with another of our doctors on Monday. His name is Loomis, and he's something of an expert on patients such as Annabelle. As for now, we're moving her to a more secure section of the facility tomorrow. Unfortunately, she won't be able to have visitors for a while afterwards until she gets adjusted."

"What does that mean?" Alisa asked.

"It means you should probably go and see her now. Otherwise, you won't be able to for a very long time..."

...

The walls in Annabelle's room at Smith's Grove was far different from either room before. There were no posters of KISS or Def Leppard. There was no table with her family's name carved into the desktop. The walls were barren and painted an off-shade of white. The sheets were white, as well. The floor was tiled linoleum, and the bed frame was brass. There was a desk, sure, where Annabelle was allowed to do her art, but none of it was on the walls. They had come through and taken it all down after her last episode, along with her journals.

When Annabelle had first come to Smith's Grove, she was terrified beyond words. It was a strange place, and the only people she knew were Dr. White and her aunt, who came to visit often. But she had taken a refuge in writing her journals.

Her time at Smith's Grove had affected her. Her hair had long ago reverted to its natural blond color and was longer than ever; she had developed a phobia of sharp objects, and freaked out whenever she saw any kind of blade. Her face was thin and pale, the result of a lack of sun from being indoors for most of her time at Smith's Grove.

A loud electronic buzzing distracted Annabelle from her thoughts. A guard had appeared in the tiny window of the door, having swiped his card in preparation of opening it.

"Let's go, Annie," the guard said to her. Annabelle stood and walked out the door. There was another guard, a woman, standing opposite her, holding a pair of handcuffs.

"Hands out, Annie, you know the rules."

Annie remained silent as she complied, but eyed the two guards harshly as she did so. The female guard placed the cuffs on her and escorted her down the hall.

...

"How are you feeling today, Annabelle?"

Alisa's voice quivered as she spoke. The visiting area made everything echo, too, and that unnerved her even more. Security guards were posted by all the doors, and the long tables were family members came to visit the committed were evenly spaced apart from each other. Visitors were only allowed in two at a time, but that wasn't a problem for Annabelle; she only ever had one visitor: her aunt.

Annabelle was silent as her aunt spoke to her. Annabelle's hands were now cuffed to the table via a chain that went through a loop in the table. Instead of responding to her aunt, Annabelle looked down at the table, staring intently at the loop in the table.

Alisa could feel her heart breaking inside her chest as Annabelle sat motionless. Where had the little girl from a decade ago gone? Had she died the same night as her parents, or was she still in there somewhere, trapped inside her own mind?

"I'm going to the cemetery tomorrow, to visit your parents. You know, it's been ten years since…" Alisa stopped for a moment to choke back the tears. A guard heard the noise and stepped forward, but Alisa held up a hand and he backed down. "I thought I'd ask Dr. White if he might sign off on a day-pass so you could go too, but I don't think that's going to happen."

Annabelle didn't say anything; she was drawing on the table with her finger, tracing it over the wood in a pattern that made Alisa think of a butterfly and not paying attention to anything else.

"Annabelle, are you listening?" When Annabelle didn't respond, Alisa continued. "Annabelle, I can't keep doing this. This... whatever this is, I can't do it anymore. You're not getting better; in fact, you're getting worse every time I come here, and I just can't bear to see you like this anymore."

Annabelle still remained silent, as if she hadn't heard what Alisa had said.

"I'm sorry, I can't..." Alisa started to say as she stood up to leave the table.

"How is everything back home?" Annabelle asked suddenly. "How's Mia?"

Alisa was somewhat stunned, she didn't know how to respond to that. The last time Annabelle asked about Mia was when she was thirteen, the last time Mia had visited Annabelle, and that was four years ago.

Mia hadn't once visited Annabelle, at all. That's not to say she hadn't tried; one year after the attack, Mia had tried to see Annabelle, but had a panic attack before reaching the gates. She wound up staying in the car the whole time. She'd tried again fairly recently, right before her high school graduation a few years ago, but again, she had freaked out and gone home. Alisa hadn't seen her since.

"Mia is doing just fine, sweetie," Alisa said with a forced smile. "Mia is just fine."

"I haven't seen her in a long time. I hope she's okay."

...

Mia absolutely loved the fall weather. The autumn chill was a welcome relief after the unusually hot summer. The leaves had turned golden brown and were falling off the trees to blanket the streets and yards. She loved the sound of the leaves crunching whenever she walked on them.

The one thing she hated about fall was the fact that it was pumpkin-flavored everything. Pumpkin Wheat beer, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin cookies and muffin, pumpkin-scented air fresheners. Hell, there was even pumpkin-flavored lube. It was way out of hand!

And as luck would have it, the only flavor of cappuccino that was available for dispensing at the convenience store Mia worked at was, or course, Pumpkin Spice.

"I fucking hate pumpkin!"

"Then don't work in a convenience store where they sell pumpkin-flavored everything," said the broad-shouldered young man who was standing behind the cash register.

Mia shot a glare at Kevin, her boyfriend/co-worker at the store, and gave him a pout that demanded his sympathy. "But how else am I supposed to pay off my student loans?"

"You don't have any student loans," Kevin said, shaking his head.

"So?" Mia mocked him by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Either you put that tongue back in your mouth, or put it to use."

"Can I use it?" Mia pleaded.

"Only if you be a good girl and go restock the Cokes like I asked you to twenty minutes ago."

"Yes sir... Kevin, sir," Mia said as she pretended to read Kevin's nametag before walking off towards the coolers.

...

It was just getting dark by the time Alisa got back to Russellville. She was passing a convenience store and realized she was hungry, as well as low on gas. She pulled into a pump and stepped out of the car to fill up her tank. Behind her, she heard the dinging of the store's bell and turned to see Mia walking out with a foam cup in her hand.

"Mia!"

"Alisa!" Mia screamed loudly. She jogged across the parking lot and threw her arms around the woman with a wide smile on her face. "Jesus, I haven't seen you in years!"

"I know," Alisa said smiling, the first time she'd done so all day. "It's great to see you, too!"

"So what have you been up to today?" Mia asked eagerly.

"I went to see Annabelle today," Alisa sorrowfully replied.

Mia's face suddenly dropped, and she felt the bottom of her stomach drop away. "Oh, how is she doing?" Mia inquired. "I haven't thought about her in a long time."

"She's not doing well at all," Alisa mourned. "She had an episode yesterday, and she attacked some people. Hurt them..."

"Oh God," Mia gasped.

"It's like she doesn't know what's real anymore," Alisa continued. "The whole thing has been pretty upsetting."

"I'm sorry about what happened," Mia apologized. "This whole thing is kind of my fault. I let her go back to her house that day. Maybe if I hadn't-"

"Don't put the blame on yourself," Alisa comforted.

"Okay," Mia responded glumly.

"She did ask about you when I saw her," Alisa mentioned. "Asked how you were doing."

Mia looked down at her feet, feeling somewhat guilty for not having visited her former friend once in the nine years she'd been there. "Should I go see her? I mean, do you think it might help? Maybe seeing me might, you know, bring her back to reality."

"I don't know," Alisa replied. "She's pretty far gone, so I don't think so. And even if I did think it might help in a tiny bit, she's being transfered to maximum security, being put on lockdown. She can't have any visitors for twenty-one days."

Mia sighed heavily "Do you think she'll ever come back?"

Alisa shook her head. "I don't think so. Nearly ten years, and nothing. I can't keep doing this. Going up there every week, and not getting anything from her. She barely talks at all, to me or the doctors. I'm afraid she's going to be there for the rest of her life."

...

October 30th

There was a commotion in the hallway, but Annabelle paid no attention to it; there was always something going on, somewhere. It was a lot louder in Maximum Security than it was in her old wing. There were always people screaming and yelling, and nurses and doctors were always running up and down the halls, their shoes clacking on the linoleum tile, echoing loudly throughout the wing.

It was annoying as all hell.

The room was barren, as they had taken away her journals and drawings. She wasn't allowed to have them back, and all she could do was sit on her bed and wallow in her anger. Her legs were pulled up close to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees, staring intently at the foot of the bed, which consisted of a single cot suspended on a stone slab built into the wall, a thin blanket, and a small pillow.

The walls were stone, as well. Cold, hard, slabs of cinderblocks stacked ten feet high on all sides. The window was a single glass hole about a foot wide and three feet tall.

This wasn't a room; this was a prison cell.

She dug into her own mind, trying to find a way to keep herself from going mad, and found a memory from long ago. At least, she thought it was a memory, and not something she made up to keep a tiny shred of her sanity.

She was about four years old, and her father was singing to her. What was the song? Some sort of lullaby? She tried to remember, forced herself to come up with the words.

"_Love hurts..._"

Yeah, those sounded about right. The words were coming back to her in a flood, a song she hadn't heard probably near sixteen years.

"_Love hurts... love scars... love wounds, and mars..._

_Any heart... not tough... or strong enough..._"

There was a loud scream coming from the hallway, and Annabelle suddenly became terrified. Tears formed on the corners of her eyes, dripping down the side of her face, as the screams grew louder before being silenced.

"_To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain._

_Love is like a cloud, holds a lot of rain..._

_Love hurts... Oooh, love hurts..._"

Thunder clapped loudly outside, lightning illuminating the sky. There was a loud crack, and the lights blinked out. The entire room was dark for a moment before the emergency floodlights in the hallway came back on.

Everything was completely silent now, save for the shuffling of a pair of feet coming down the hallway. They were distant at first, but as they got closer, they got louder and it sounded like there were more of them. Annabelle stood up from the bed and walked over to the door. She looked through the glass and, to her surprise, saw dozens of patients coming down the hall. Some were walking, others were running, looking quite eerie in the floodlights.

A face suddenly pressed itself to the glass of the door, causing Annabelle to jump back and scream loudly!

The face was solid white, with brown hair and a blank face, and black eyes... It was him! It was Michael Myers!

"No! NO!" Annabelle screamed as she fell backwards and scooted towards the wall on the opposite side of the room. "No, get away from me!"

The door opened-

_-the door swung open, and a tall dark Shape stood in the doorway-_

-the Shape entered the room and approached Annabelle. He towered over her-

_-the bloody knife was raised high over his head, poised straight for Annabelle's heart! Annabelle screamed as loud as her tiny lungs would let her!_

It was happening all over again! Annabelle tried to force the images out of her head, but the refused to obey. The Shape came closer, his hand reaching out for her...

_"Let me go! Let me go!" She thrashed and tried to squirm away from the Shape, but he put his hand on her throat and forced her down! She smacked her head on the floor and instantly stopped moving, and instead only cried..._

Annabelle huddled against the wall, crying loudly, her face buried in her arms, not allowing herself to look up into the eyes of Death, lest they be the last thing she ever saw.

"Don't... be... afraid..."

Annabelle looked up, confused. The words sounded forced, muffled by the pearl-white mask, as if the voice hadn't spoken in years. Annabelle saw the Shape standing over her, hand outstretched as if offering for her to take it.

Annabelle, not comprehending what was happening, did the only thing she could: she accepted the hand, which helped her to her feet. She brushed herself off and stared at the mask.

The eyes were no longer black; they were a beautiful ocean blue shade, like staring into a pool.

Before Annabelle could say anything, the Shape turned and left the room.

"Hey, wait!" Annabelle screamed as she followed him out into the hall. Patients were shuffling around, and Annabelle lost sight of the Shape in the crowd. Annabelle pushed her way through the crowd and, eventually, found herself in the front lobby. She noticed there was blood on the walls and all over the front desk. Annabelle broke free from the teeming mass of people and made her way to the desk, where she saw the receptionist lying in a pool of blood, her arms broken and lying at odd angles, her neck snapped.

Annabelle backed away from the scene and ran outside. The night air chilled her bones, making her realize just how thin the hospital gowns really were. The patients were roaming the grounds like cattle as the rain poured down on them.

Then, she saw him.

The Shape was standing near the guard house next to the main gate, staring back at the building... at her. She met his gaze and staggered towards him through the wet, muddy lawn. Her feet were cold and wet, sinking into the ground as she approached the fence. She fell against the chainlink and smiled at the Shape.

"What took you so long?" she asked him. He didn't respond, just stared back at her, stoic and silent except for the muffled breathing through the mask, which was now streaked red with blood.

"Let's go," she said as she went through the open gate. She looked into the guard shack and saw the body of the occupant slumped against the controls, neck bloodied and clearly dead. Annabelle began walking down the road, Michael Myers lumbering slowly behind her...


End file.
